EVFR 2.0: Battery Mock-up Test-fit

I went down to the shop tonight to test-fit the battery pack mock-up. Since I oversized the pack, things seemed tight at first. Just to make sure everything fit OK, I used a tie-down and compressed the front forks as much as I could. This ensures that I’d have enough clearance under heavy braking. Add a little wiggle room for fork flex and fudge factor and things fit pretty well.

I put the side fairings and the Faux-tank back on and made sure it all fit. Even with all of the wiggle room I built into the mock-up, it fit just fine. There’s plenty of room for the charger inside and quite a bit of room underneath the pack for the controller and wiring.

It’s got a little bit of refinement left, but it’s a great start. I’ll be back down there tomorrow my buddy Travis to kind of finalize some things. Pretty happy with this setup.

There are a few reasons. Just note that this is basically my second conversion on the same frame.
1) When I started my project, Enetrac motors were not available. I chose a C-face motor and stuck with it. My first revision of my motorcycle was done long before Mark made this motor available. I MAY have considered it if it were available at the time.
2) I wheeled an dealed and bought my motor and controller second-hand for less than it would cost me to buy an enetrac + a sufficiently powerful kelly controller.
3) I really don’t like the style of wheel (with the spokes) and don’t want to spend extra money to have a custom wheel fit to that motor.
4) I don’t like being forced to use a Kelly controller. I’ve found the overall quality to be poor and they are over-rated power-wise. I base this on personal experience as well as that of others. They might be better now, but not when I bought my AC20 system.
5) Unsprung is something I’d need to address as it effects handling, and I didn’t want to have to mess with suspension.
6) The AC20 is good up to 50hp (~38kw) peak compared to enertrac’s 30kw peak. The AC20 will do more than the Enetrac’s 10kw continuous. For higher power cooling is very important and I found enertrac to be harder to cool than the AC20 (not that it can’t be done though).
7) I really don’t have an issue with room in my frame. I can easily fit 5kwh in my frame, which is all I wanted.
8) I already spent money on custom rear sprocket, front sprockets, chain. Why throw all that away?

Now for someone who is starting fresh on a stripped frame and doesn’t mind the style, sure, Enertrac would be great. I’ve seen people use them with great results. Kelly might be better quality than before and since then. I know other companies have come out with controllers that may do BLDC better (Sevcon, etc). It’s a good motor from a great company and Mark is a great guy to deal with. It just doesn’t fit my budget or requirements and wasn’t available at the time and I was unwilling to start over.